This January, “WWE Smackdown” moved to the first three-hour format in history after being acquired by the US network. As “WWE Raw” moved to Netflix at the beginning of the year, USA lost one of the top cable shows on the network, leaving a big gap in programming on Monday night. So, when “Smackdown” leaves Fox, the US decided to apply the 3-hour format to the Blue brand, but the WWE Universe has mixed feelings about the schedule change. While some fans enjoy additional wrestling to get started on the weekend, others feel that much of the “SmackDown” is made up of filler content, and the quality of the show has been declining since last year. However, in a recent edition of “Wrestling Observer Radio,” Dave Meltzer shared the good news of those eager to see the two-hour format return.
“It’s going to be around then, yes… I was told a few months ago that it was the end of May, so that’s yeah, it’s going to be one of the weeks around it.
Meltzer also noted that last Friday’s episode of “SmackDown” attracted 1,599,000 viewers. Previous Friday, which was “Smackdown,” before WrestleMania 41, was the most watched episode of the year, with accumulating 1,741,000 viewers.
If you are using the quotes in this article, please praise Wrestling Observer Radio and AH/T to Wrestling Inc. for transcription.
